The Lesson of the Moth

Beauty is among the most significant themes in “the lesson of the moth.” Much of the moth’s response to Archy hinges on the importance of beauty as something worth creating and pursuing. The moth gives two main reasons for his desire to “fry himself on the wires” (Line 5). The first is that he “crave[s] beauty” (Line 19), and the second is that he craves “excitement” (Line 20). Excitement does not make another appearance in the moth’s response except by its opposites like boredom and “routine” (Lines 29, 18). Beauty, meanwhile, comes up five times during the moth’s speech (Lines 19, 21, 27, 34, 37). It is implied that the desire that Archy envies in the moth at the end of the poem is a desire for beauty, considering that the line “and crave beauty” (Line 19) is the line to directly state that the moth is behaving this way out of a craving, or desire.

If beauty is not the main theme of “the lesson of the moth,” it is at least the main focus of the moth’s speech. However, the moth’s conception of beauty is complicated by the fact that the only way that the moth seems to know how to “be a part of beauty” (Line 34) is to self-immolate.